GUWAHATI, Dec 13 - Providing corruption-free and effective governance to the people of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) would be his main goal, said Pramod Boro, who is all set to take over as the new chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) after his party, the United People�s Party Liberal (UPPL), forged an alliance with the BJP and the Gana Suraksha Party (GSP).
Though the Bodoland People�s Front (BPF) emerged as the single largest party in the 40-member BTC, no party gained majority to form the council. On Sunday morning, the UPPL, which won 12 seats, forged an alliance with the BJP, which won nine seats and the GSP, which won one, to pave the way for formation of the council. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced that Pramod Boro would be the new chief of the BTC in presence of leaders of all the three parties and Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is the convener of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
Talking to The Assam Tribune after the announcement, Boro said that though there was no pre-poll alliance among the parties, they decided to come together in the interest of providing corruption-free governance to the people of the BTR.
The leaders of the three alliance partners went to Raj Bhavan on Sunday afternoon to stake claim to form the council, and Governor Jagdish Mukhi accepted their claim. The new council will be formed on December 15.
Boro, who was the president of the All Bodo Students� Union (ABSU) for 11 years, joined active politics only early this year after the signing of the peace accord with four factions of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB).
He said during his long tenure as the ABSU president, he maintained close relations with the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) and the student bodies representing other ethnic groups of the state. �This will definitely help me in improving relations between all sections of people living in the BTR,� he said.
�The long association with the ABSU will also help deal with the problems faced by students,� he added.
Boro, who is also the president of the UPPL, asserted that under his leadership, the BTC would be people friendly and the problems of all sections of people would be dealt with. He said that majority of the people of BTR wanted a change after the BPF ruled the council for 17 years and failed to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the people. Corruption was also a major issue for the people, he added.
Boro said the alliance partners would soon chalk out a common minimum programme for effective governance. He said they have requested the BJP to make the UPPL a partner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). However, when asked to comment on the BJP-BPF alliance at the state level, Boro refused to comment, saying that at this moment, the UPPL-BJP-GSP alliance was for the BTC only and it was up to the leaders of the BJP and BPF to decide on the alliance at the state level.
Boro said he would give priority to implementation of all the clauses of the accord signed by the Central and State governments with four factions of the NDFB in January this year.
